The Red Affair
by Yammas
Summary: This is a story. A A story of love and lies and hate and fear and betryal and all those other things we don't like to admit we pay attention to and want to read about, but really do. This is the story of Draco and Ginny.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Don't get your knickers in a twist! I only own the plot!  
  
Let the insanity begin.  
  
-Sam  
  
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It seems, in ones life, there is always a point in which one looks back and thinks "Now...what if I had seen that coming?". Life is one of those tricky things, really. It is full of suprises. Full of twists and turns. Some for the better. Some not so. Looking back Ginny certainly wondered what those years at Hogwarts would have been like if she had known what was ahead of her. Those years at Hogwarts... the best and worse years of her life. Which, I suppose, brings us to our story...  
  
Hogwarts. A place for young witches and wizards to realise their full dreams and potential while simultaneously receiving a top rate education and fighting evil against threat of world domination. Of course, the latter who only so for few. Ginny Weasley was not one of these select persons, dispite all the wishing on stars and pennies she had done to to rectify the situation in her youth. She had had adventures before mind you. She had faced great peril and survived. But as I said, this is Hogwarts... and these are witches and wizards. They seem to have a many more adventure then the average muggle, don't they?And as I've said, Ginny has quit a big adventure. One envolving a bad guy, a damsel in distress and a hero. This particular hero, who was nothing special but really was, a particular Boy Under the Stairs, Boy Who Lived, Boy Who Just Wouldn'y Die (and many other names) was an extreme sorce of distress for said damsel for many years. She loved him with all her heart and soul because she was a girl and he was a boy and he had saved her and the world so many times and that was what you did when someon saved you, you loved them, didn't you?Well she did, and she smiled many times when he so much as glanced at her and cried many times when he didn't. She did these things and many more awful things I won't mention, because this is a different story. A story of love and lies and hate and fear and betryal and all those other things we don't like to admit we pay attention to and want to read about, but do. Now, where were we? Ahh yes... Hogwarts. The Hogwarts library to be exact. And that, is where it all began.  
  
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	2. In Times Like These

Disclaimer: Own the Harry Potter charactars?I wish!  
  
Here's another chapter, I hope it's not a bit slow in starting...I'm just developing a background for the plot.  
  
-Sam  
  
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"And there has always been laughing, crying, birth, and dying  
  
Boys and girls with hearts that take and give and break  
  
And heal and grow and recreate and raise and nurture..  
  
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"Ginny!" Hermione's voice was shrill, somewhere a very large very old window cracked.  
  
"Ginny, listen here, this is your 6th year, you need to pay more attention!What about exams?What about homework?What about-" Ginny's head slowly turned to meet her friend's, a blank expression on her face. It accured to her that she had been staring at her Potions homework for the past 20 minutes, without progress.  
  
"Huh?" no exactly an intelligent responce...but it'll do, she thought  
  
"Isn't that essay due tomorrow?You know, the one on the medical use of porcupine needles...shouldn't you be working?" sometimes (all the time) Ginny thought Hermione had not only memorized her own homework, but the entire Gyrffindor House. She tried to smile a bit and gave a hopeless shrug   
  
"Yes, I suppose it is...I think I'll just have a bathroom brake" and before Hermione had a chance to stop her, she ran off out of the library. She really should have been working, but right now a week long detention scrubbing bed pans almost seemed better then sitting down with Hermione and doing her work. Usually she was very good about those things, it was her brother Ron that usually counted on Hermione for work to copy.  
  
Once she was in the corridor though, she realized she really had no use to go to the bathroom. She didn't really know what she had been planning to do...the lie had flown from her lips like her mother's famous cure all puffer-eye potion. She stood still for several seconds, pondering what to do (because she certainly didn't want to back into the library) when the bell rung, and students began to rush out of their respective classes for lunch. A scrawny boy with dark hair about her age pushed past her in a hurry, knocking Ginny sideways. She steadied herself against the wall and was about to give him a rude glare (as she recognized him as a Slytherin) when he quickly looked back  
  
"Excuse me" he said the words so quietly she barely heard them  
  
She opened her mouth to reply...but he was already lost in a crowd of Hufflepuff first years.Ginny bit her lip, not many Slytherins remembered manners and she had the nagging feeling she had seen him somewhere before, although she couldn't remember his name. She never had a chance to think of it further however, because it was then Hermione found her.  
  
"Lunch already, times sure flys when your having fun doesn't it?" Ginny held back a snicker, only Hermione could actually love tedious homework so much. It was lunch time though, and there was no point standing around the Library corridor like an idiot...  
  
"Sure" Ginny agreed, "Let's go to lunch"  
  
Of course, once Ginny actually got down to the great hall, she almost wished she hadn't bothered. Hermione immediately took her usual seat between Ron (Harry hardly ever came down for meals) and Ginny took the only empty spot available, the one directly across from her boyfriend, Dean Thomas. On the train ride home her previous year Ginny had jokingly insinuated that her and Dean were going together. She had only said to send Ron of his rocker, but before she knew it Dean had gotten word that she "fancied" him. He asked her out to Hogsmead when school started back up and as it turned out he was actually a great guy and they got on pretty well. However, he had been acting very strangely lately...avoiding her eye, ignoring her in the halls. Something was wrong, she knew...but whenever she asked what he would quickly changed the subject.  
  
"Hullo, Dean" Ginny tried to smile cheerfully as she reached for the mashed potatoes, thinking that the best approach was to act as though nothing was wrong.Dean, who had been about to reply to something Seamus Finnagin had said, stopped mid-sentence and turned to Ginny.  
  
"Uh" he cleared his throat "Hello, Virginia...how are you this...fine afternoon?" Ginny raised an eyebrow and jokingly raised her palm to Dean's forehead  
  
"Nope, no fever...you never call me Virginia, you know I hate it...what's with you Dean?" she laughed a little, it sounded fake.Dean licked his lips, cleared his throat another time and mumbled something that sounded very much like "I dunno" followed by an "Ow! What was that for?" because Seamus had just given him a sharp jab in the ribs.  
  
"Uh...Ginny...I need to tell you something, promise you won't be mad?" Dean glanced at Seamus one more time (who gave him a look that seemed to say "Get on with it!") and then back at Ginny  
  
"Ithinkmaybeweshouldbrakeup" Ginny dropped the roll she had been buttering, the knife clattered noisily to the floor.  
  
"Excuse me?" but she knew damn well what he had said  
  
"I think it would be best if we didn't see each other anymore" Dean paused "Or talked.Or sat together...and I'll give you those Muggle Studies notes you lent me back, and the Weasley sweater your mum knitted me and-"  
  
Ginny yelled something in the heat of the moment that would have caused Mrs.Weasley to wash her mouth out with soap. The whole Gyffindor table stared at her, open mouthed.  
  
"Maybe I should have told you in private..." Dean laughed nervously and looked at his lap, his plate, anywhere but Ginny's face, which was probably a good thing because redheads don't look very pretty when their angry and near tears.  
  
"Ginny, you have to understand" Dean's dark cheeks were tinged with pink and he was whispering desperetly now, trying to calm Ginny who was near frantic, "You have to understand, this is for the best...you have to know I care about to Ginny, that's why I-"  
  
"Stop it!" Ginny gathered here bag and struggled to get up from the table, she felt like every eye in the hall was on her. She managed to stand up, but tripped on the strap of her bag and fell to the floor  
  
"Ginny I'm sorry...I'll give you back that fudge you gave me the other week...there's still a couple peices left!" Dean stood up just as she did  
  
"Don't bother!" she spat, furiously brushing her red hair from her eyes. Dean moved to follow her as she ran out of the hall, but Seamus grabbed his friend's arm and shook his head.  
  
"Come, Mate...it's for the best" Dean sighed and sat back down  
  
"Yeah, your right. I really thought she'd go for the fudge bit though..."  
  
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...But then hurt agian from time to time like these"  
  
- Jack Johnson  
  
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	3. I Don't Want To Remember Sometimes

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own 'em.  
  
Once again, I'm having writters block. I know the story, getting there is the key. Here's another chapter, sorry it was so long in coming...and so short. They will get longer. This chapter is basically to drop hints. So keeps your eyes open. Also, I made a few changes to chapter 1. You don't need to read it again...I'm just letting you know.  
  
-Sam  
  
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"In my end is my beginning."  
  
-T. S. Eliot  
  
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Ginny often remembered the day of her sixth birthday. It had poured throughout the night, and she knew this because she had scarcely been able to sleep. They were to have a picnic that day, and her mum had woken early to bake a giant chocolate cake. Besides that, her father had worked extra hours at the Ministry and bought her a beautiful, second hand, dress for the occasion. There was a rip in the white lace, but to Ginny, it was perfect.  
  
That afternoon, as the Weasley family finished eating lunch, Ginny sat under the shade of an old oak. She was making a daisy chain when she noticed a stray kitten some yards off, who was looking hungrily at the left over cake. She threw down her chain and ran to pet it, when she got in the way of Fred and George, who were having a mud fight. What followed next seemed in slow motion, even as Ginny remembered it. There was a large 'smack' as the mud splattered all over the front of her dress, and in that instant, Ginny new this was not the perfect birthday she had dreamed of. Fred and George froze (mud still dripping for their fingers) and Ron swore something that later caused Mrs. Weasley to wash his mouth out with soap. Her father (who didn't know what else to do) quickly gathered the boys inside, just as her mother conjured up a bucket of soapy water and told her (in a panicked tone ) that it "could be fixed". Ginny stared at the little kitten, who had ran under a bush during the commotion. Her dress was ruined, that was all she could think of...not matter what her mother said. It would be forever stained, just like the memory of that day. Poor, freckly, gangly, little girls weren't princess's, she realized. They didn't deserve beautiful white dresses. It was interesting, she never had any problem accepting her brothers hand-me-down's after that.   
  
Now, at 15, Ginny knew that boys ruined a lot of things...that's what they did. You could be upset over these things, you could cry. Or you could except it. Just as she had excepted Dean dumping her. Never mind that he had no reason to, never mind that it was simply wrong to do it front of her entire house, never mind that he didn't want his Weasley sweater...that was fine. It didn't bother her one bit. Not one bit. This was why Ginny wasn't embarrased when she accidentally bumped into him in the corridor after Charms a week later.   
  
"Sorry" Ginny muttered, as she bent down to pick the books she had caused both of them to drop  
  
"No..no, it's ok..." Dean smiled a little, and bent down, grabbing a few books and stuffing them into his bag  
  
"So..."  
  
"Yes...so..." Ginny laughed a little, no ackward at all, she thought  
  
"How are you doing?" Dean said suddenly, Ginny almost thought she saw a glint of concern in his eyes  
  
"I'm fine" Ginny nodded several times, but her eyes were fixed over Dean's shoulder  
  
"Ok-"  
  
"Ok" Ginny blushed, she didn't know why she felt so stupid. It hadn't been quit this ackward when things had ended with Micheal Corner.   
  
"Well..." Dean scratched his ear, shifted his feet. Ginny cleared her throat loudly and looked at her wrist. She didn't actually have a watch, but she had to do something. Anything, instead of standing there like the biggest prat in school.  
  
"I'll see you around, then" she said finally. Dean sighed and shook his head.   
  
"Bye" Ginny quickly swung her bag over her shoulder, and walked away before Dean had time to respond. Right then, she thought...maybe "fine" wasn't the perfect word for how she felt.  
  
Another week went by and Ginny had almost forgotten the embarrasing incident with Dean. She had been having a horrible time sleeping though, and would wake pail and shaken before her first class. Ginny knew she was having nightmares, awful ones, because her roommates complained she was muttering in her sleep. She considered telling someone, but then who would she tell? She hadn't had nightmares since beginning of second year... but what good would it do getting everyone all upset? There was enough distress in the air, with Voldermort's official return. Besides, Ginny thought, the dreams were probably just stress related.   
  
Her brother Ron, of course, was not known for having a horrible amount of tact. He made rather a show of commenting on her appearance that evening at dinner.  
  
"You look horrible, Gin!" he exclaimed "Just horrible...like on of those sombie thingy's muggles always have on their telemavision!". Hermione sighed irritably and told Ron "for the millionth time" that they were, in fact, called "zombies". Either way, Ginny didn't care. She didn't even notice Harry's absence until Neville commented on it. He had been gone more and more lately, of course, but sometimes made an appearence at dinner to ignore Hermione's worried glances and Ron's nervous jokes. Ginny bit her lip and began to make a pile out of her mashed potatoes. For so long all she had wanted was to be included and do the kinds of things The Trio did. Now, adventures didn't seem so important.   
  
After dinner Ginny excused herself from a conversation she was having with Neville and made her way to the Hospital Wing. She hated it there, but her grades were suffering from her lack of sleep. Perhaps she could convince Madam Pomfrey to give her a sleeping potion. Ginny took the staircase two at a time and walked quickly down the hallway that led to the Infirmary. She still had a scroll on the magical properties of sneezewort due the next day in Herbology. Or was it scurvy-grass? Ginny knew they were both used in Buffledlement Draughts...perhaphs she should have stayed to talk with Neville a bit longer. He was an expert when it came to Herbology. Either way, she was almost there now. The corridor was very dark, the only light cast by the flickering torches on the wall. There was an eerie silence Ginny could almost hear . She was so used the busy, bustling Hogwarts she usually saw. And besides living in a house with so many people for so many years...she was not used to the quiet.   
  
Ginny bit her lip and turned the corner that led to the hospital entrance. She wondered how she was going to get Madam Pomphrey to give her a sleeping potion without looking suspicous. Ginny was so deep in thought she didn't notice when she had stepped front of the door labled 'Infirmary' , and didn't see the handle turning either. Not before it was too late. Ginny tried to jump aside as the door opened, but it still smacked her directly in the forehead causing her to lose her balance. The last thought Ginny had before her eyes rolled into the back of her head was that she was going to die (even if it was a bit dramatic), because the last thing she saw was a bright light, and an angel with silver hair and very blue eyes.  
  
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	4. The Ugly Things No One Sees

Disclaimer: No..No..No...  
  
I don't own them.  
  
Sorry for all the mistakes in Chapter 3, I am looking for a very patient beta reader... so if you're interested just email me. Also, please note that Draco's eyes are in fact grey, not blue. I hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry it was so long in coming. Also, thank you to everyone who had reviewed, you know who you are! Now, without further ado... I give you Chapter 4!  
  
-Sam  
  
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Come on, oh my star is fading  
  
And I see no chance of release  
  
And I know I'm dead on the surface  
  
But I am screaming underneath.  
  
Colplay, Amsterdamn  
  
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Ginny was unconcious for aproximitly 8 minutes, but when she was awoken, it was to the sound of furious whispering somewhere off to her left. Groaning mentally, she touched the sore spot on her forehead, and tried to shut out the noise. It wasn't until she heard a very familier voice, however, did she strain to listen.  
  
"If you think this won't get back to your father your highly mistaken, I wouldn't be suprised it he sent for you tomorrow morning, you're just lucky no one else knows about this--"   
  
Oh God. She recognized that voice. She could recognize that smug, silky, drawl anywhere. Ginny swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise in her throat, because she had not been this close to Draco Malfoy since the night in Umbridges office. She had not had the danger of certain particular memories arise in her until this instant. Ginny closed her eyes, and breathing deeply, cleared her mind that she might hear what was said next.  
  
"You won't tell him will you?" a second voice pleaded "You wouldn't--"   
  
"Why wouldn't I?" Draco laughed "Why shouldn't I? What's in it for me? You couldn't possibly have anything that I would want."  
  
There was an awful silence then as Ginny tried to keep from breathing.   
  
"Perhaphs I don't have anything of value to you... but I do... I do know of something" there was a note of triumph in the voice.  
  
"Well? What are you getting at?"   
  
"The drawing in your dorm.."  
  
"What drawing? When were you in my room? I could have you expelled for that!" Ginny might have smirked at the obvious tone of panic in Malfoy's tone, but she did not.  
  
"I really don't think you should be threatening me right now, Malfoy... I'm simply saying that if someone found that drawing.. they might think certain things.. it would be out of my control you realize--"  
  
"Alright!" Draco interrupted "We'll both agree to be silent then, shall we?"  
  
"Not so. I think I'd rather see that drawing once more, I know a few people who might be interested in seeing it as welI, I--"   
  
"I think you better shut your mouth!" Draco near roared and Ginny flinched "You'll forget about whatever you saw if you know what's good for you! You--" but what the second voice was, Ginny never knew. She could only assume that Madam Pomfrey had entered that exact moment because Draco stopped mid setence, and she could distinctly hear him mutter something under his breath.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy! That is enough!" yes, it was Madam Pomfrey "It was very kind of you to escort young Mr. to the Infirmary," she continued "but I must insist you leave before you wake Ms. Weasley!"  
  
"Weasley?" Draco asked dumby  
  
"Yes, Ms. Weasley is here. I would have thought you would know that, as you were the one who knocked her unconscious, Mr Malfoy"  
  
Ginny imagined Draco's smirk, but when Madam Pomfrey pulled open the curtain to her bed, she saw she was mistaken. He was simply standing there, staring at her. Ginny felt her throat go dry, and instead of meeting his intense gaze, decided to look at the bed he was leaning against. She could not spy it's contents, however, just a pair of feet sticking out of the end.  
  
"I'll just leave then shall I?" Draco said, staring at her the entire time. She stared back, wondering why he was not reacting when he must know she had heard his entire conversation. Was it because Madam Pomfrey was an arms length away? Was it because he had finally mastered the art of subtly? Or perhaphs, Ginny thought, was it because he simply thought her unworthy of such notice? Unworthy of scorn, or sneering. Simply a piece of dust, waiting to be brushed away. After all, Ginny reasoned, one doesn't yell at dirt for existing. She felt an odd sensation go through her at that one, and deciding she didn't like the way Malfoy was looking at her. Not one bit.  
  
"I'll think I'll go," she said, tearing her eyes away from Draco's "I'm feeling much better now.."  
  
Then, putting what she hoped was a smile on her face, she hopped of the bed, not waiting for Madam Pomfrey's permission. Nearly sprinting out of the hospital wing, Ginny glanced at the cot where Draco Malfoy stood. He was still staring at her, an odd expression on his face, but she managed to get a look at the boy in the bed.  
  
It was the same boy she had bumped into that day in the corridor. The scrawny, polite Slytherin boy. His eyes fallowed her and he consciously raised his hand to his face. Ginny didn't notice the thick, white bandages covering his wrists.  
  
Ginny ran and didn't stop until she had reached her dorm and pulled the scarlet curtains around herself. Her brother, Hermione, and of course Harry, had not been worried. Had not stayed up late with concern. They weren't in the common room, or any corridors she had passed. Ginny asummed (as usual) they were going about some classified business too dangerous for her to be included on. She did not dwell on hating The Trio for it, as she might have. Perhaphs because she was near to death with all the other thoughts racing through her head. Thoughts of what had just happened mainly, thoughts that all seemed to be connected and jumbled together with strings. Thoughts that threatened to give Ginny a headache. Thoughts of the night in Umbridges office. Of Draco Malfoy. Of the Bat Boguey hex and all the things leading up to it.Ginny shivered despite herself. Thoughts of the summer after Sirius's death. Of the tension that seemed to hovar permenetly in the air, of the tension that still threatened to consume them all. She thought of her nightmares, and Draco Malfoy's drawing. Draco Malfoy's drawing that somehow seemed so important. He had been near hysterical with it's discovery. Obviously it was something of importance if it served as ample blackmailing material. Ginny didn't know what it was, couldn't think of how horrible it might be.. but she somehow knew she had to find out.  
  
Merlin, she could still remember dropping Ron off at the Platform for his first year of Hogwarts. She could remember the pain of it. The lonliness. The excitment. Mostly, she could remember the excitment. She had longed for Hogwarts as long as she could remember. Longed for the freedom and independence, longed for the feasts, longed to prove to everyone else that she wasn't just the youngest Weasley child. That she could be or do anything she wanted. Her year before Hogwarts had been spent in anticipation. She would spend her days drawing Mrs. Harry Potter all over the notebooks she kept, and day dreaming of the adventures her, Harry, and Ron would have together. Of course, that had changed once her brother came back from Hogwarts. He was filled with tails of trolls, evil teachers, his new best friends, and adventures... just as she had expected. The only thing she hadn't seen coming, hadn't even dreamed of, was that these things wouldn't and couldn't include her. Things were different after that. Always would be.They would no longer sit by the fire sipping hot cidar, because she was simply too "young and naive" to understand. She knew Ron still loved her, he was her big brother after all. He big brother, mind you. And not her friend.  
  
Now, Ginny was not a spiteful person by nature, but she would never, ever, forget how many times The Trio had brushed her off. Never forget how many times she had stayed lying awake on the musty bed at 12 Grimmauld Place, waiting for Hermione to come up and tell her something of what was transpiring downstairs. Anything, only to be told not to worry, and to go back to bed. She may have been a Slytherin for all the ambition she had, because Ginny thought she was willing to do anything to be respected by the Order. She did not rightly know if what she had just heard in the hospital wing was of any importance... but she was willing to take a chance. And if that meant becoming friends with the scrawny Slytherin boy, then by God, she would do it. She would do anything.   
  
Ginny slept frightfully that night with horrid dreams of about a man (was he a man?) with black wings, and dark, swirling eyes that encompassed that night sky. She dreamed she was falling, falling, falling, forever just about to hit the ocean floor, but all she could see was her reflection. Little and bony, as she had been in her first year. Her eyes frighted with purple bruises. She dreamed she was running forever but getting nowhere. Red doors that kept slamming in her face. Musty old houses and once handsome mean that died, and a mother who's worst fear was being alone. She dreamt of being alone and a million other things that she forget once she awoke, pail and shaken the next morning.   
  
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"Sleep,  
  
Those little slices of Death  
  
How I loathe them." - Edgar Allen Poe   
  
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